5i8 



NA TURE 



[March 31, 1898 



Attention has several times been called in Nature to the 

 various optical illusions by which one of two equal straight 

 lines can be made to look larger than the other by drawing 

 thero in particular positions, or a series of parallel lines can be 

 made to look askew by drawing slanting lines across them. A 

 very full and detailed account of these illusions is now given, 

 by Herr Wilhelm Wundt, in a paper reprinted from the Abhand- 

 lungen der k. Sachs. Gesellschaft der JVissenschaften, and pub- 

 lished by B. G. Teubner in Leipzig. The paper is illustrated 

 by sixty-five woodcuts, showing all the principal and many less- 

 known appearances of this class, and Herr Wundt discusses 

 at considerable length the causes of these subjective phenomena, 

 whose existence appears to have been first made known by J. 

 Oppel in 1854. 



Sunshine recorders and their indications are often regarded 

 with suspicion by meteorologists ; and not without cause, for it 

 can hardly be claimed that any sunshine recorder in use is a 

 satisfactory physical instrument. In the current number of the 

 Quarterly yournal of the Royal Meteorological Society, Mr. 

 R. H. Curtis reports the results of a comparison between the 

 sunshine records obtained simultaneously from a Campbell- 

 Stokes burning recorder, and from a Jordan photographic 

 recorder. The comparison indicates that the Campbell-Stokes 

 instrument gives records which can be measured with a fair 

 degree of accuracy by different persons, and are not liable to as 

 much uncertainty as the records of the Jordan instrument. 

 Contrary to the belief of many observers the photographic 

 records were not, upon the whole, in excess of the records 

 obtained with the Campbell-Stokes instrument. 



In the Free Museum of Science and Art (Philadelphia) for 

 December, Dr. Brinton draws attention to a discovery among 

 the ancient marbles of the Louvre of an admirable representa- 

 tion of the wearing of the murmex. It is figure No. 68 in the 

 Salle des Caryatides. The discovery, says Dr. Brinton, removes 

 all doubt of the correctness of his identification of the so-called 

 bow-puller with the murmex. The bow-puller is the name 

 generally given to a bronze object found in museums. The 

 " collections and publications " section of this very useful 

 bulletin is exceedingly good, and we are tempted to hope that 

 our own museums may some day call forth the interest that is 

 evidently felt by Americans in theirs. 



The Keliquary and Illustrated Archceologist for January last 

 is almost entirely anthropological in interest. Mr. Leader 

 Scott's account of the Gallic necropolis in Italy, discovered by 

 Conte Giampieri Carletti on a tract of land at the foot of an 

 indentation of Mount Montefortino, near Arcevia, is particularly 

 interesting ; while the next three articles — on some old-fashioned 

 contrivances in Lakeland, by Mr. Swainson Cowper, on the 

 modern use of bone skates, by Mr. Henry Balfour, and on beer 

 and labour tallies, by Mr. Edward Lovett — lead us to the domestic 

 antiquities of our own country, which are all too frequently 

 neglected. The dairy appliances described, inter alia, by Mr. 

 Cowper are very interesting, and we hope he will go on to 

 give us sufficient material to work out the evolution of farm 

 implements. 



The American Anthropologist for November and December 

 last contains a specially good article on the aborigines of 

 Formosa and the Liu-kiu islands, by Mr. Albrecht Wirth. The 

 aborigines who cling to the savage state are short of stature, 

 the majority being under 5 feet 6 inches. They have broad 

 faces with low brows, straight and high noses wide at the 

 nostrils, and lips not so thick even as those of the Malays. The 

 subject of trephining in Mexico is dealt with by Carl Lumholtz 

 and A. Hrdlicka, who give some valuable additional notes upon 

 this interesting subject. Mr. Lewis W. Gunckel analyses the 

 deities of Mayan inscriptions, an obscure subject not perhaps of 

 sufficient interest to attract much general attention. 



NO. 1483, VOL. 57] 



The Geologists' Association have arranged an Easter excursioi> 

 to Bridport and Weymouth, under the direction of Prof. J. F, 

 Blake, Mr. W. H. Hudleston, F.R.S., and Mr. S. S. Buckman. 

 The party will leave Paddington Station on Thursday, April 7, 

 and will return on Tuesday, April 12. 



Prof. H. G. Seeley, F.R.S., will begin the summer course 

 of lecture-excursions with the London Geological Field Class 

 on Saturday, April 23. The subject of the series will be " The 

 Physical Geography and Geology of the Thames and its Tribu- 

 taries." This is the thirteenth annual course. Mr. R. H. Bentley, 

 43 Gloucester Road, South Hornsey, N., is the hon. secretary 

 to this class, which provides a systematic course of geological 

 teaching in the open country. 



The Society for the Protection of Birds has issued Part ii. 

 of the Educational Series of leaflets, edited by Mr. H. E. 

 Dresser. Thirteen leaflets are bound up in this part, and each 

 contains interesting notes on the appearance, characteristics and 

 habits of British birds. The information will induce the reader 

 to observe bird-life with a sympathetic eye, and will thus 

 further the Society's objects. 



The second number of the Science Abstracts, issued under the 

 direction of the Institution of Electrical Engineers and the 

 Physical Society, has just been issued. Additions have been 

 made to the list of journals from which papers are abstracted, 

 and it is proposed to considerably enlarge the monthly parts as 

 time goes on. The staff of abstractors is also being increased. 

 The value of Science Abstracts to the physicist and the electrical 

 engineer is very great, and no student of physical science who 

 wishes to keep in touch with the world of investigation can 

 afford to neglect so serviceable a publication. 



We have received Natural History Transactions, vol. xiii. 

 part 2, published by the Natural History Society of Northumber- 

 land, Durham, and Newcastle-upon-Tyne, an institution which has 

 recently completed its jubilee. The Society promotes an im- 

 portant museum, and detailed enumeration is given of the mam- 

 mals, birds, and miscellaneous objects to the collections. Prof. 

 G. S. Brady, F.R.S., has a long paper on the British species of 

 Entomostraca belonging to Daphnia and other allied genera. 

 A paper on the " Life History of Coal " seems to take up a 

 great deal of valuable space, and suggests curtailment. There 

 is much interesting information conveyed in the reports of the 

 committees. Lord Armstrong has apparently been a munificent 

 supporter of the Society. We are of opinion, though of course 

 it may not fall in with local necessities, that much of the matter 

 contained in this and similar publications might perhaps be 

 condensed and printed in appendix form, so as to bring the 

 papers and record of actual scientific progress more into pro- 

 minence. — The Proceedings of the Bristol Naturalists' Society, 

 vol. viii. part 2, has also reached us. There are several useful 

 contributions in this nicely-printed publication, covering many 

 branches of science. An interesting paper appears on the 

 "Chemistry of Colliery Explosions," by Mr. Donald Stuart, 

 which is supplemented by a plan of Timshury Collieries, in 

 Somersetshire, exhibiting the workings traversed by an explosion. 

 Noticeable also is a paper, by Mr, S. S. Buckman and Mr. E. 

 Wilson, on the " Geological Structure of the Upper Portion oi 

 Dundry Hill." 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include a Herring Gull {Larus argentatus), British, 

 presented by Mrs. Hovell ; three Bactrian Camels {Catnelus 

 bactrianus, 9 9?) from Central Asia, two Yaks [Poephagus 

 grunniens, 9 and juv.) from Tibet, a Beisa Antelope (^Oryx 

 beisa, S ) from North-east Africa, a Burchell's Zebra {Equus 

 burchelli, 9 ) from South Africa, a Weka Rail ( Ocydromus aus- 

 tralis) from New Zealand, four Radiated Tortoises {Testudo 

 radiata) from Madagascar, a Galapagan Tortoise (Testudo gala- 

 pagensis) from the Galapagos Islands, deposited. 



